CD If you haven’t yet been introduced to Lowertown - the enigmatic band comprised of Olivia Osby and Avsha Weinberg - now’s the perfect time. It’s taken a few years for the New York-based duo to catch their breath: after teetering on the brink of collapse for years due to label disputes, creative frustrations, and an unhealthy attachment to their artistic partnership, the band was due for a reset. Their new album Ugly Duckling Union - out May 22nd on Summer Shade - starts with a composed exhale from Osby, a symbolic moment that sets the scene for their most thoughtful, uninhibited, catchy, and eccentric collection of songs yet. Ugly Duckling Union is a concept album based on the band’s own experiences of forging a community through their music. Duckling protagonist Dale and his companions band together to defeat LBH, a tyrannical media corporation set on separating and isolating in their pursuit of control. The album’s physical packaging includes a handbook filled with lore and illustrated comics by Doctor Nowhere (Silias Orion). Beyond that, fans can dive even deeper with plush dolls and a playable Minecraft world inspired by Ugly Duckling Union. Inspired by the conceptual creativity of bands like Gorillaz and the emphasis on the communal concert experience of Fugazi, Lowertown fuses online & in-person fandoms into one complete experience. Lowertown are perhaps best known for their affecting musings on the melancholia of youth, always captured with biting honesty. But on Ugly Duckling Union, that anguish is funneled through a more mature, detached, and humorous lens. Weinberg describes their previous lyrics as “knee-jerk reactions,” compared to the more considered and self-aware writing of this LP. “Mice Protection” pokes fun at Osby’s tortured inability to make decisions, “Forgive Yourself” is a blunt yet compassionate meditation on shame, and “I Like You a Lot” is a rare Lowertown love song, detailing the physical sensations of infatuation. Ugly Duckling Union was fully written, recorded, produced, and mixed by Osby and Weinberg, and that insular, hands-on ethic is something they cherish—and has never waned. Although Lowertown are the sole caretakers of their art, their new album title is a celebration of the meaningful community they’ve built. “Our home has been the people who make us feel understood, and the music that makes us feel understood,” Osby explains. “I feel like Avsha and I have just been two misfits doing stuff together, and I feel like this music is for people like us—it’s for the misfit toys.” There’s a lot of freedom in being an outsider, and that’s ultimately what Ugly Duckling Union is about—finding and freeing yourself through community. And what could be more freeing, self-confronting, and funny than making a beautiful record with your ride-or-die, misfit-toy best friend?
